Sweetheart and Other Oneshots
by readingatsunset
Summary: Just some random ideas I get from time to time. Ch. 2: The war is over, but not without scars and regrets.
1. Sweetheart

Disclaimer: I do not own anything but this plot.

Sweetheart

.. … . … ..

Hermione Granger sighed in relief as she kicked off her two and a half inch heels (they might not be six inches, but they still felt as if they were crafted by the devil, himself) and lounged on her couch. She closed her eyes and relaxed for some much needed rest before she was to get ready for dinner and she was just drifting off when she heard a "Psst" coming from her fireplace.

She groaned tiredly, then got up and stuck her face over the embers, "Hello?"

"Hello, Granger," **his** smooth yet raspy voice greeted her suddenly alert ears.

 _Great_ , Hermione inwardly rolled her eyes, "What do you want, Malfoy?"

"I just called to ask if you wanted to accompany me to dinner tomorrow night?" She could hear the smirk in his voice, despite her unenthusiastic tone. He had asked her this very question a number of times before, he had explained to her that he wanted to take her out to dinner as a proper apology for their years at Hogwarts together; but she knew the truth: he only wanted to take her out so he could get his picture taken with the Gryffindor Princess, the Queen of Good so everyone would think that they were "chummy-chummy" with one another in order to improve his own image in the eyes of the public. Why couldn't he pester Harry or even Ron with these requests, as surely any of the "Golden Trio" would do.

"Sorry, Malfoy, but I'm very busy right now and I need to go," She told him, not sorry in the slightest.

"Oh? Hot date, then?" He questioned, jokingly, as it was the middle of the week and no one, especially Hermione Granger, in their right mind would have a date on a Wednesday night.

Hermione rubbed her eyes, tired of this conversation, "Yes, in fact, I do have a **date**."

"Really?" He questioned, "You must not be attracted to him if you so graciously omitted 'hot' from your statement."

She was starting to get annoyed now, "Actually, I'm having dinner with my boss.."

"Ooo, Ms. Stratford? Granger, I didn't know you swung that way," he said, suggestively.

"Oh, shut it Malfoy, I'm having dinner with **Mrs**. Stratford as well as one of our clients so we can go over some last minute details," She's had just about enough of him.

"Why did you call it a 'date', then?"

Her fuse was nearing its end, "I was hoping that you would leave me alone if I told you I was going on a date."

"Well, that obviously didn't work," He said dryly before changing gears, "So about dinner tomorrow night-"

"Look, Malfoy, I would rather be chased through the Forbidden Forest by a pack of wolves than have dinner with you. Now, I really have to start getting ready, bye," She didn't worry about how harsh she sounded at the moment as her eyebrow was twitching.

There was a beat of silence and for half a second, she thought she had hurt his feelings.

"Maybe some other time then, Sweetheart!" He said quickly in a cheery way, before disconnecting.

She sighed at the dying embers then grumbled, "And don't call me 'Sweetheart'," before getting up and heading to her room to shower and change.


	2. Nightmares and Night Walks

A/N: I realized that writing chapters for one story is much too difficult, especially since there will probably be years between them. So, I am making this into a collection of oneshots with different plots I manage to think up and write down.

.. … . … ..

Nightmares and Night Walks

Before the new term at the rebuilt Hogwarts, Hermione Granger, unsurprisingly, was named Head Girl while her counterpart had come to a surprise to them all, the newly named Head Boy, especially, Draco Malfoy. McGonagall had decided to appoint two returning "eighth year" students and most trusted the Headmaster's decision, just wanting the past few months to be a distant memory. There were, of course, those who fought hard against the appointment of Draco Malfoy for obvious reasons, but McGonagall and Hermione were quick to put down all arguments.

After that, the two heads had decided on a truce at the beginning of school and had grown to be almost acquaintances what with their shared common room, patrol schedules and other Head duties.

It was three weeks into term and the dead of night when Hermione heard a noise outside her bedroom in the shared Head's common area and went to investigate. Wand in hand, she deftly crept out her door, took a few steps and-

"Ouch!"

"Ow, Granger is that you?" Apparently, she had tripped over a fallen Draco Malfoy and in the process, had lost her wand.

"Malfoy? What are you doing out here?" She asked as she felt his legs move under her, her hand slightly throbbed as it had broken the majority of her fall.

"I could ask you the same thing."

"I heard noises, which I assume was just you, and came out here to check on it." Hermione flexed her hand to make sure it didn't sustain any greater damage.

"I was just coming back from a midnight stroll."

Hermione frowned, "Malfoy, you know no one is allowed to wander the halls after midnight, even your head status won't protect you from that."

"Relax, Granger, I'm careful not to be seen and usually I can sneak back in without much noise but your bloody books were in my way. Merlin, do you always keep 20 books laying around?"

"Maybe you should be more careful, you disturbed my sleep," she said, annoyed, as she renewed her attempts to get off him and find her wand.

"And you're disturbing my internal organs, geez, Granger, get off me!" He said as he pushed her off, a groan of pain behind his words.

The truth was, Hermione had already been awake when she heard the noise. Her nightmares from the war would sometimes wake her. Some of them were memories, but others were terrible creations of her mind, made of those memories and her own fears. They were sporadic- sometimes, if she was lucky, she wouldn't dream at all, but mostly, the nightmares would plague her sleep.

She found herself waking often from them, but sometimes, they would just go away and she might catch a glimpse of her parents, happy and smiling at her or of Fred and Remus and Tonks, all alive and well. Hermione used to wonder if she screamed in her sleep and if Malfoy could hear them, but he never made any indication that she kept him up at night so she figured that he used silencing charms.

"Wait, why were you out taking a stroll, could you not sleep, either?" She asked as she finally located her magical conduit and used it to light the room.

Draco had a frown on his face when she looked at him, "You don't sleep?"

"Nightmares," she shrugged, "sometimes, they wake me. But you didn't answer my question."

"What are they about?" He asked stiffly.

She frowned, "They're mostly different- sometimes we're being chased in the woods, other times I'm being tortured, nearly all of them wake me."

She noticed Draco flinch when she mentioned being tortured and suspected she knew why, "Draco-"

"Good night, Granger, I hope you sleep better," he said as he got up and went to his room at the opposite side of the common area.

Hermione sighed as his door clicked shut before she began to restack the 12 books he had knocked over. As she reached for the next one, a thought stopped her. Why had Draco been walking by her room if his was on the opposite wall? Her brows furrowed as her mind went into overdrive.

… .. .. . .. .. ...

The truth was, Draco knew that Hermione would wake sometimes at night, he knew it was from nightmares, and he dreaded what her nightmares were about. Now that he knew that she was still haunted by what had happened at Malfoy Manor, he knew he would sleep even less than he already did.

It wasn't always nightmares that kept him awake; sometimes, it was shame. He usually would take strolls around the newly fixed castle to assuage his guilt and assure himself that everything was going to be okay now; and to avoid Hermione. The walks started after the first time he heard her scream about two days into term. He remembered hearing her cry in agony at a horrible dream and was immediately sent back to when Bellatrix had tortured the girl. Since then, he often left so he wouldn't hear her.

He refused to use a silencing charm because he didn't think it was right to try to sleep when the girl across the room was having nightmares that he played a part in. No, he thought that if she didn't sleep, he wouldn't, either. He always left before the screaming started and tried to return after they ended, but sometimes, when he walked back through the portrait hole, he would hear her crying out in her sleep and he would go to her door and cast a sweet dream spell so she would sleep more peacefully. It was only a small comfort that he could give her, but at least it was something.


End file.
